Sub-zero temps plague region

Weather will warm up on Thursday

A City of Du Quoin Street Department worker removes snow from parking spaces on Main Street on Tuesday. According to the National Weather Service, January's average temperature thus far is 10 and a half degrees below normal.Pete Spitler/Du Quoin Call

By Pete Spitlerpspitler@localsouthernnews.com

updated: 1/17/2018 12:09 PM

Du Quoin District 300 students are out of school again today, as a sub-zero windchill combined with the effects of two winter storms gave students an extended holiday.

In a Tuesday morning Facebook post, Du Quoin Mayor Guy Alongi stated City Hall would be open as a warming center until 4 p.m. on Thursday.

Those who are interested are advised to contact the Du Quoin Police Department at 618-542-2131 and register as a guest.

According to Melissa Byrd, meteorologist with the National Weather Service, no records were broken for any low temperatures during the month of December.

"We did have 11 consecutive days where temperatures were below freezing," she said. "The most was 18 in January of 1977."

Byrd said December actually finished a tenth of a degree above normal due to the warmer weather at the beginning of the month, but January thus far is 10 and a half degrees below normal.

"January was predicted to be below normal for our area, which is what it's been so far," she said. "For the three-month outlook, the temperature has equal chances of being normal with precipitation slightly above normal January through March."

The NWS advised low temperatures on Tuesday night were forecast to dip to the 0 to 5 above range, with wind chill readings up to 10 below zero through mid-morning on Wednesday.

The temperature will finally climb above freezing on Thursday and stay that way through next week.

Two winter storms - Winter Storm Hunter and Winter Storm Inga - gave students a rare six-day layoff during the long Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. The NWS, in a statement, noted that Tuesday's frigid temperatures would make it difficult for crews to clear ice and snow from roadways.

"We still have a lot of ice around the school sites and some of our secondary roads, so we hope to be back in on Thursday," District 300 Superintendent Gary Kelly said.

Kelly noted that the district will use its third emergency day of the school year, which has seven planned into the 2017-18 academic calendar.